The
wrong judgment that misleads us, and makes the will often fasten on
the worse side, lies in misreporting upon the various comparisons of
these. The wrong judgment I am here speaking of is not what one man
may think of the determination of another, but what every man
himself must confess to be wrong. For, since I lay it for a certain
ground, that every intelligent being really seeks happiness, which
consists in the enjoyment of pleasure, without any considerable
mixture of uneasiness; it is impossible anyone should willingly put
into his own draught any bitter ingredient, or leave out anything in
his power that would tend to his satisfaction, and the completing of
his happiness, but only by a wrong judgment. I shall not here speak of
that mistake which is the consequence of invincible error, which
scarce deserves the name of wrong judgment; but of that wrong judgment
which every man himself must confess to be so.
65. Men may err in comparing present and future. (1) Therefore, as
to present pleasure and pain, the mind, as has been said, never
mistakes that which is really good or evil; that which is the
greater pleasure, or the greater pain, is really just as it appears.
But, though present pleasure and pain show their difference and
degrees so plainly as not to leave room to mistake; yet, when we
compare present pleasure or pain with future, (which is usually the
case in most important determinations of the will,) we often make
wrong judgments of them; taking our measures of them in different
positions of distance.
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